The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 2 - Aaron Rodgers created his own problems in New York, Albert Breer

Episode Date: June 19, 2025

Colin weighs in on the latest grievances from Aaron Rodgers about his time with the New York Jets - all creations of his own making. Albert Breer joins the show to discuss Rodgers in Pittsburgh, Shedeur Sanders in Cleveland and more stories around the National Football League. Where will Kevin Durant play next year in the NBA, and does he still move the needle?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I got last night, J-Mack, somebody, I'm not going to get into names, but it's somebody I implicitly trust. has been a very good source for me. They used your name. They said, I got some news for you on J.J. McCarthy, and I don't think J. Max's going to love it. I'm just telling you.

No, no, I know. I think I know what you're talking about. I heard from somebody something similar after I went on my rant. Minnesota Vikings fans loved it. And then other people were like, J. Max, slow down. Here's what's not out there that you need to.

You know? And I was like, all right, fine. I heard about it. All right. I'm just, you know, JMAQ, I'd get ready for a fourth place isn't the worst place in the world. Let's say, come on, listen. If he plays and delivers, it's no big deal. But I do like how people are hitting you up and referencing me, man.

Wow, I've really come a long way. It was a reference that you were annoying, so it wasn't the greatest reference. Okay. So I want to say this. So according to this is good, Mark Schlarith, who's at FS1, obviously. and he is friends with Rogers for the time being. That could, you know, who knows. The four-time MVP, according to Mark Slareth,

often went on a diatribe with issues with the Jets organization. And Mark said, Aaron and I had a conversation when he was with the Jets about how abysmal their running game was and how schematically it made no sense. And Mark started the conversation, and he said, Aaron went on for about a 25-minute diatribe just on their run game. So I've said this about Aaron Rogers and Kevin Durant, love their talent, don't love their choices. So for Aaron to be upset with the Jets run game and dysfunction, bro, you brought Nat Hackett there. The Jets have a 14-year playoff drought, longest in North American sports.

Canada, us, every league. And in December, Aaron Rogers had a quote. This is not me saying it. This is Aaron Rogers. He says, I didn't do myself any favors with the girls I've dated. Okay, that's his opinion. I'm not saying that. Okay, so my take is this goes to the heart of what I've said about Aaron.

I'm not saying he's not smart, and I'm not saying he's not talented. Like KD, I don't love his decision making. The Jets have been dysfunctional for a decade and a half. You chose him. Robert Solub was on the hot seat. You chose him. Nat Hackett was a disaster in Denver. You chose him.

You can't blame anybody. And I've argued this. The reason Pittsburgh's not a great fit, and I'm serious, you think the jets are dysfunctional. The Steelers aren't organizationally dysfunctional, but the Steelers are offensively dysfunctional and have been since Big Ben's last couple years.

They can't get the offensive line right. Naji Harris got traded and said, they've got no plan offensively. So, you know, it's, it's just with Aaron, I know he's smart, I know he's talented, but there are times he just lacks an awareness that feels so obvious to me for a smart guy. Remember what he said this during the season for the Jets? Remember this? Anything that doesn't have anything to do with winning needs to be assessed.

If you want to be a winning organization, and to put yourself in position to win championships, and be competitive. Everything that you do matters, and the bullshit that has nothing to do with winning, needs to get out of the building. I agree. Unfortunately, many of the dramas in the building were created,

and teammates asked about it, induced by Aaron having a weekly hit on a TV show. That was part of it. So Aaron led the league as a quarterback in non-football stuff seeping into the locker room. Awareness. That's why I said I would retire before I go to the Steelers. They're dysfunctional, not organizationally, not defensively, but offensively they're dysfunctional. How many OCs can we have?

Musical chairs offensive line. Just my take. Albert Breer is now joining us live Monday morning quarterback. Let's just talk, and again, I don't like being always knocking Aaron. That's why I always say, I said this with KD. I can love your game, not love your choices. LeBron, I love both. Brady, I love both.

Peyton Manning, I love both, the choice thing. So let's just talk the first couple of weeks, Aaron in the building with the Steelers. What are you hearing? Really good. He's got a good rapport with Arthur Smith, which really was built up since March. He's been in touch with Smith and Mike Tomlin. really pretty consistently throughout. Now, they didn't have scheduled check-ins,

but Aaron was diligent about staying in touch with them, and they were building an offense forum. And, you know, Arthur Smith had connections to two of Aaron Rogers' last three play callers. Both Matt LaFleur and Todd Downing worked with Arthur Smith over the years in Tennessee, so he had relationships he could pull on there. So it's easy to say it in June, right? But so far, so good. And I do think that there's a little bit of a nuance here.

at Collins just to jump in on what you said before I came on there, which, like, I think this is kind of why Aaron picked the Steelers over the Giants in the first place. When he went to the Jets, I think he was being asked to lift all boats. And I think he probably felt like he could do it, right? You had a really talented core of young players there, guys like Breeze Hall and Garrett Wilson and Soss Gardner and Quinn and Williams and Jermaine Johnson and Hulu Foshan who coming in last year. And the idea was Aaron's going to come in and he's going to push these guys over the edge and we're going to become a winner because of Aaron. I think the Giants would have been asking him to do the same thing with their core, guys like Dexter Lawrence and Brian Burns, guys who

had won before Andrew Thomas, Malik neighbors coming in. That's not what the Steelers are asking. The Steelers are asking him to jump on a moving train. And even if the things aren't perfect there, there is something established. That culture has been in place for almost 20 years now. And so I think what appealed to Aaron about coming to Pittsburgh versus what he had to do in New York the last two years is Aaron, just come in here and play quarterback. That's all we're asking you to do. You know, having talked to him a couple times last summer about this, I know he was kind of digging in on, I'm more appreciative of just the opportunity to go play football. I think the Steelers will give him the chance to focus on just doing that and not lifting up everybody around him. Okay.

I said last hour I was really I was very much champion in championing chidrew Samson. Championier. I'm not sure. How do you say that?

I was a champion. Championing. There you go, right? Championing. There you know. And I always got a good B plus in English. Sorry I butchered that America.

So but at the quarterback position and I did this with Baker, I did it with Mansell. I can remember, I've taken my shots at, okay, it's different. I want you to be Jalen Hertz. I want you to be Dak. I want you to be Herbert.

I want you on that Wednesday podium. Your job is to put fires out. You know this. Brady used to do a Monday hit in Boston radio. You know this. And all it was, he didn't need the money, it was to create the narrative for the week. So the media, the aggressive Boston media,

couldn't attack. That was Brady's brilliance. Big Ben did this in Pittsburgh for a while to kind of create the narrative of the week. It's very smart. It's not the end of the world, but between that legendary draft room, which was corinjee and a hundred mile an hour speeding ticket.

I'm sorry. Albert, it matters, and it bothers me. It is something. Yeah, and I think it's the issue now is that really, if you're the Browns, what you're looking for to do or Sanders to do from a work standpoint is come in and operate as if he's the 30th or 40th or 50th guy on the roster because that's exactly what he is as a fifth round pick. He's a guy

who's fighting not for their starting job for a job on the team period. And so generally your tolerance for this sort of stuff with with guys who are in that position is going to be far less than it would be with a star player. I don't think this is the most serious thing in the world. But it is, you know, an early test of how he handles it with the team and everything else. And so I think that's part of it. The other thing is, like, he is playing from behind here. And look, the reality is the reason he got less, less 11 on 11 reps than the other quarterbacks, the reason that he got less first team reps than the other quarterbacks in the spring is because he had more ground to make up. He was behind. And that's something you heard consistently from teams

ahead of the draft was this guy were a little surprised based on his background that he's as behind as he as he is from a football know-how standpoint. So he's already playing catch-up behind even Dylan Gabriel, let alone Kenny Pickett or Joe Flacco, and you're looking for him to blend in, which he did a nice job of that, like he was a worker bee in May and June, and he did put his head down and go to work and do the things you need him to do. But again, like this is a guy you're looking to blend in.

And so this is one of those things where it's like, ah, that's not great. Now let's see how he'll react. Again, it's not something that's going to get him kicked off the team, but it's something you pay attention to. Okay, so last night, I got a text from somebody I have a great deal of respect for. And they said, the J.J. McCarthy situation, it is a work in progress. He is not Bonex. He is not J.D.N.N.N.S.

He is not that. Those guys came in, a lot of starts, ready to play. They'd been in shootouts. They'd had multiple coordinators. The teams leaned on them. They played a lot from behind or in big games. Those guys, Bo Nix was ready to play, and so was Jaden Daniels. In my opinion, so was Michael Pennix, but Kirk Cousins was in Atlanta.

I say, I said a couple weeks ago, Albert, I love mystery in a true crime series. I don't like it with my quarterbacks. What are you hearing on J.J. McCarthy? Well, I mean, the guys you're comparing them with, I mean, Jaden Daniels is a five-year college player. Pennix was in college for six, Bow Nix was in college for five. All those guys had a massive amount of starts. So it isn't the same thing. There was more of a learning curve.

And, you know, I think a piece of this is, you know, inextricable from reality is the injury. You know, and the injury last year and kind of the after effects of that and how that affected his whole year. and you know mentally physically how is he handling all of that the weight loss all of that stuff is a part of the mix when you're talking about where j jay mccarthy was going into 2025 now that said after the season ended he's been in there every day he's doing his best he's put the weight back on and so is he going to snap his fingers and be what jade daniels was last year no but that was never the viking's plan anyway the viking's plan was and this goes back to when Kevin got there three years ago was eventually we're going to reset with the young quarterback.

And because that young quarterback is on a rookie contract, we're going to be able to build aggressively around the young quarterbacks. That's exactly what they've done. After they let Kirk Cousins go last year, they go and they bring in Jonathan Grenard and Andrew Van Ginkle and Aaron Jones. And this year they go and they shore up the interior of the offensive and defensive lines by bringing in Will Fries and Ryan Kelly on offense and Jonathan Allen on defense. And the whole idea here is we don't need J.J. McCarthy to be a great player.

We need him to be a bus driver. Now, you drafted in the first round, you're eventually going to need more from him if you're going to give him a second contract. But here and the now, the idea is going to be for J.J. McCarthy, who does have talent to come in and keep the train on the tracks. And I think that's the piece of this that people miss sometimes is, like, it's not about getting him to be Patrick Mahomes immediately. it's about getting him to be the best answer for a team that won 14 games a year ago and has very serious championship aspirations. Can you get him there by August? I think that's a very realistic thing.

All right. But for the record, the Lakers sold yesterday, the Celtics sold recently. Is there an NFL team, if I said an NFL team just got sold, is there anybody you think is looking to sell in the NFL? Like out of nowhere you're saying? Well, I mean, there's certain, like the Brown family can't compete financially in Cincinnati. I feel like they feel like that I've got the quarterback and the stars, but they just can't feel like they can. I mean, every star player, it becomes public.

It's a mess. I mean, the one that you've heard the most about, you know, I think it's from a speculation standpoint just because they don't say much as Seattle. You know, the death of Paul Allen obviously, you know, changed some things. and Jody Allen, his sister has been in charge, and she's sort of been a little bit of a mysterious figure. Because of where that franchise is, you know, and the amount of wealth, and you know this better than anybody, you're from the Pacific Northwest, Colin.

The amount of money that is in that region of the country, there's always been that thought that they could cash out. And then you look at the numbers here, and I think that's probably part of the deal with the Celtics and the Lakers selling, is like the numbers have become so big now that it's almost impossible for people. people who own these teams to ignore. So, like, if there was one out of nowhere,

and I think it'd be really tough to pull that off in the NFL to have, like, it's just completely clandestine team sale that flew completely under the radar, and boom, it's there. And I think the Lakers was kind of that way, right? You know, I think it would be Seattle. I think what you're going to see more of in the coming years is what we've seen over the last year or two, which is pieces of teams being sold. You see the Raiders, they're selling to big money guys like Meldman and Egan Dern.

and Tom Wagner and obviously Brady's part of that now too, where that serves two purposes. It gives teams an influx of cash. And it also probably long term lessens the blow from an estate tax standpoint. I think that's probably what you're going to see a little bit more of the Eagles. Jeffrey Lurie sold pieces of his team off. We've seen some teams sell pieces to private equity. I think you're going to see more and more of that. As far as like a whole team being sold, Seattle's the only one that I can come up

come up with offhand that strikes me as like if there was one that was going to kind of come come up a sneak up on people maybe that would be the one that will get sold yeah and that's a well-run organization that somebody being themselves a gem uh good seeing you alper brerzoa's money morning quarterback thanks man all right thanks Colin and just to you know give you a sense of how valuable ownership is look at the exit of dan Snyder and the entrance of new ownership literally change the entire trajectory of the franchise overnight. I mean, that is the greatest turnaround. You know, what's funny in the NFL is,

I've seen this multiple times in the NFL where a team gets purchased and they get better fast. In the NBA, Matt Ishpia bought the Sons, and there are just certain things in the NBA that the NFL doesn't deal with. It's much more of a players league. The NBA, though, is going to start looking much more like the NFL. General managers are going to be the key to this league. In five years, here's my, you know, in the NFL, we always talk about Howie Rosebin and Chris Ballard and John Lynch and Les Need.

And, you know, we all John Snyder in Seattle and Jason Light and Tampa. And we all know that, you know, Brett Veach in Kansas City, we know the GMs. You know, there's certain stewards and GMs in this league. We talk about in the NBA, if you're a casual, you don't really follow. I mean, you know Danny Aange now in Utah, that will change in five years because the NBA, if you look at the new aprons and collective bargaining, you can't stack rosters. You can do it. You have to get rid of guys or you have to just draft and develop.

Well, general managers, not the players. This is like the NFL. You get the occasional Mahomes, the occasional star player, those GMs, they're running the show howie rosman is running the show in philadelphia you're going to see more of that in the NBA that be obviously uh sam preste in oklahoma city uh brad stevens and boston's terrific uh Riley's been uh you know a stud forever so that's going to become a bigger deal and a bigger conversation are you surprised Colin that so many people out there are like can you believe an NBA team sold for 10 billion i don't think people get that the NBA is a global sport right there is an

appeal in China, in the Middle East. I mean, USA basketball, remember before the Olympics, where did they go, Colin, to put on a show? They went out to the desert and saw all those rich, all the guys with the oil money, and guess who invested in the Lakers? Take it, you a mean, you don't have to do any deep diving here. The SPN's reporting that a lot of it is coming from Saudi Arabia. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's funny. We don't talk about ratings for sports at all, accept the NBA because it's a more political league and because they lean left on their politics, people that are moderate to right, kind of attack the league for its ratings. I get it. That's the world we live in. But the truth is they signed a $76 billion deal. And the reason the Lakers

sold for $10 billion, a big chunk of that is the 11-year $76 billion deal. The Walters group gets their cut of that. If that deal is for $35 billion, not $76, they're not selling for $10 billion. and the Celtics aren't selling for six. The Celtics are selling for four and a half. The Lakers are selling for seven and a half. So the reason it's selling, that valuation, is connected to that massive TV deal. And it's up to the networks to get ratings. NBA got their bag.

Players got it. Adam got it. Owners got it. Coaches got it. They got theirs. It's up to NBC, ESPN, and Amazon to make it work. That's not an NBA problem. Coming up, the things we build our future around,

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What's the news, name? Huge news. We've created our own podcast. called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a... We're the first people to do podcasts.

Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how did we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going to.

Don't? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, Hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite, unhumored me with Robert Smigel and Friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

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Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. All right, Colin, my Knicks, they still are looking for a head coach after surprisingly firing Tom Tibido a couple weeks ago. You know, it was frustrating when the Knicks kept getting denied by teams to talk to their guy, but it looks to me like right now

Mike Brown is the favorite. He's the betting favorite at plus 125, followed by Taylor Jenkins, Johnny Bryant, Michael Malone, the former Denver coach, is a little ways down the list. I like Mike Brown a lot. He's been a good coach.

I thought he got jobbed in Sacramento after doing a, I mean, he got him to the playoffs. Sacramento never got to the playoffs. He's a Steve Kerr guy. You know, Mike Malone, to me, is an excellent coach, and you have to be careful about this. Reportedly, they don't want Mike Malone because his intensity matches Tibbs, and they don't want two rough guys back to back. I'd be very careful about that.

I mean, what happens in, this has happened to me in my life where, like, I've worked with people that you have a news director when I was in local TV, who was a yellow and a screamer, but highly effective. And then he gets run out of the building. And then you go the opposite and hire somebody that's as strong as a down comforter. And you go the opposite. The pendulum swings too far. Hibbs built a really tough culture because he's hard on players. Don't forget that. Don't go. I don't want a Mike Dan Tony clone because he's a swell guy.

You know, Tibbs was hard on the players. Yeah, they got better in the regular season, the postseason. And this team has deficiencies in personnel. Do not let the pendulum. Mike Malone, to me, is the coach here. And I don't even think it's that difficult a decision. But we need to admit, he feuded with the front office because he didn't want to play young guys in Denver. He wanted to ride the veterans, which is not what you do, Colin.

You don't have that. Depth, get you to the finals right now. Okay, you don't have that dilemma here. You don't have that. The Knicks aren't depending on young players. So that's the thing. Tibbs played his starters a lot and would not change. He was unyielding in refusing to bring like,

do some Gubride off the bench. I know that small potatoes, but Knicks fans know what I'm talking about. He was just a little firm in his ways because he's older. I think they want to skew younger, someone who the front office is going to say, please do this. It says analytically,

need to. Okay. Tell me the last great coach in any sport. Now baseball, because of analytics, managers have limited power. But if you go NBA, NFL, you can go international soccer. Tell me the last

great manager who basically complies with ownership and front office wishes. You're hiring somebody that you can push around. I don't like that. It's less about, I'm sorry, maybe I friend that wrong. Less about

pushing around, but more about being on the same page. Hey, this is what the analytics say. We like this. What do you think? All right. Oh, yeah. Being on the same page. As long as you agree with me, we'll get along. What does that mean? Being on the same page. You, I don't like that. Colin, like, you wouldn't have me on this show if we didn't agree on a lot of stuff. No, that's not true at all. Our sports takes disagree. We go head to head over plenty of stuff. But by and large, we agree what works. No, because you and I are on the same. I don't want to get into us, but you and I are on the same page. We work hard, blah, blah, blah. family, that kind of stuff.

If you were a scurly guy, I don't care if we agree or not. We go back and forth constantly. I want, as a GM, a coach with a strong vision and a strong plan, I don't have to have him succumb to my wishes. The Knicks want to hire comfortable and compliant. I want a great coach, and I think Malone is a top ten coach in the league. I don't disagree. I think there's a middle ground.

We probably agree. But let's move on to the Detroit Lions, who, you know, there's some pressure on your boy, Jared Goff, South Bay's finest out here in L.A., maybe you'll get a bite with him when you come out here next week. There is pressure on him, quote, the Lions have too much talent not to bounce back in 2025, but the end of the season has to leave you wondering if the franchise can actually make a Super Bowl run with Jared Gough. I think that's a little silly. He was moments away from a Super Bowl two years ago in that San Francisco game.

The bigger issue is he is not a mobile quarterback. And in this league right now, teams like, you know, Washington with Jaden Daniels. Even Denver with Bo Nix can add about 20 to 25% of the playbook because you can constantly move the pocket. That's why Shanahan, by the way, likes Brock Purdy. One of the reasons he likes him is you can move the pocket. You couldn't with Garoppolo. So Garoppolo didn't throw deep and he couldn't move particularly well. One of the attractive things about Purdy, I can flush him left or right.

He does move well, and you get more plays. and so I think these quarterbacks, I think you look at, I think you look at, if you have, you just lost your center who retired, not good for Detroit, not good at all. So the O line will not be as good, period in the middle. And now you have an immobile quarterback. So I do think you start looking at this and thinking, hey, do we have to have a great O line in order for Goff to win? Because you know eventually some of these offensive linemen outside of Penaise Sewell,

you can't afford all of them. So by the way, Goff had a career. year last year, 37 touchdowns, QBR, best of his career. I think the issue with Goff, Colin, we're going to notice it early. You remember last year, any time the Lions played and Goff's

throwing, guys are wide open. I'm talking like everywhere. Dudes are, defensive backs aren't even close. If all of a sudden they're not as open, because the new OC's not as good, I think you need to sell the Lions like in September. You're going to be able to tell early, because those guys are so wide open. I still think they have a great

roster. What is the over under 11 to 11 and a half? I think it's 10 and a half. Yeah, so I think they're an 11-win team, but I do think there's an argument when you lose two elite coordinators, go ask Philadelphia when Siriani had two great OCDC, lost them, bad hires, that team was reeling. Think about how good Philadelphia's roster was a year and a half ago, and it was reeling. They were a mess. So coaching matters. Quarterbacks they got a face in the first six weeks, Jordan Love, Caleb Williams, Lamar Jackson, Dylan Gabriel, Joe Burrow, and Patrick Mahomes. That's three of the best four quarterbacks in the league in the first six games for your new defensive coordinator.

Good luck, Lions. Final story is the 49ers, Colin. They brought back former D.C. Robert Sala. This offseason, they were brutal last year. 28th in scoring defense. George Kittle was on the Rich Eisen Show and talked about the defensive side of the football. Here's George Kittle. message on the Niners.

He's really good at his job, and I'm really excited that we somehow convince him to be our defensive coordinator again because he knows what he's talking about. He's inspiring. He gets the boys fired up. I'm pumped to have him back in the building, just hanging out with him a little bit, talking about stuff. You can just tell he's ready to roll this year,

and he's going to get the boys fired up. Violence is coming, is what I would say. Yeah, I mean, I think everybody in the league, when the Jets fired Solom, my take was, you just let the best coach in the building leave, and you were already babysitting that Hackett, and it was a disaster. That's nothing against the guy that replaced him,

but never let the best coach in the building leave. That's almost always the rule, and it was not a terribly strong staff because the OC was, you know, came with Aaron. So I think Saul is a great coach. Whether or not he's a head coach, and everybody gets second. chances. I would give him a second chance.

I think he deserves it, but he's an excellent defensive coach. Well, they'll be the number one scene in the NFC. I think we both agree on that, right? They got Brock Purdy in an easy schedule. Can they win the Super Bowl? We'll see. I mean, I think Niners, you have Rams'

bills? I think I might have Niners' bills in the Super Bowl. Well, I have Rams Seahawks making the playoffs. I do not have the Niners in the Super Bowl. I think that is. Listen, sometimes, I win these bets against you, and I see them coming a mile away. You've got two months left to get off that horrible Seahawks take, right?

Let's just move off that one quickly. You know how you move off real estate quickly? You need to move off to Seattle Seahawks being a playoff team next year. That's just not happening. Let me tell you something. I already bought a couple of jet skis without those winnings. I got jet skis. Do they let jet skis go on Lake Chicago or whatever the lake is called over at Lake Michigan?

You want to brush up on your Geography. May I want to brush up on that a little J-Mack. Lake Chicago, okay. J-Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News.

We all want to feel completely safe when we're locking up at night, especially next to Lake Chicago. You want to feel safe. Peace of mind. How about Simply Safe, Colin.com 50% off your news system with professional monitoring in your first month free at SimplySafecollin.com. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific.

Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, new? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast. Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to us. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. but this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys?

I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. We were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this.

We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey Jonas, and then I wrote down on my little notepad Hey Jonas and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.

Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel. help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending. Opinions are flying. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in.

I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered.

Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlyce on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark.

Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped. up in the chase, that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth.

Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about. All healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app.

Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Continues with the Gold Cup tonight as the Stars and Stripes face off against Middle East powerhouse Saudi Arabia. No easy path, no second chances. Tonight, 9 Eastern on FS1. Now the odds for this one, bit too closer, a little more comfortable than not. people may suggest. So keep your eye on that. And everybody's feeling good about themselves after that five-nothing shalacking of Trinidad Tobago. But keep your eye on this one tonight. So sometimes I'm just flummoxed by something that I have always liked Kevin Durant as a player. There's a

story today that he wanted to join both the Celtics and the Knicks in February at the trade deadline and neither was interested. Huh? I mean, he's the number one rated jump shooter in the league. Only two guys in the league averaged 25 points and shot 40% on threes. Yokic and KD.

He's not disruptive. He's a nice guy. He's respected by players. He doesn't need the ball in his hands. I don't get it. He doesn't have a market. And I was thinking about that this morning is that all of us communicate beyond talking, tone, body language, who you hang out with, and I think

his messaging is bad. That's the only thing that explains it. The best head coaches and general managers prioritize winning for second and third. And I don't think KD has always prioritized that. He did briefly with Golden State. Then he got into his fields and left. And he wanted to just go, hoop and have fun. And people in the NBA, have fun in your own time. We want to win titles. I don't like his messaging.

I love his game. You know, Jalen Brunson, whether it was Villanova or the Knicks, he dies a little with each loss. He is so competitive. And he's got it all lined up. And that's the only, it's the only thing I can make sense of this is that it's so strange. And people say, well, he's going to want a new contract. He's not getting a super max.

He wants a couple of years. He's giving you 25 a night. He can defend. You get length. He's a bright player. He knows the game. He knows the ins and outs. He's mostly healthy.

It's a shooter's league. By the way, he'll get mid-range. He can hit threes. And with Brunson's game, especially. You know, whoever plays with Brunson can't need the ball a lot. You've got to be able to play off ball with Jalen Brunson. That's why he and Luca weren't perfect, right? Like, Kevin Durant is perfect.

He's the perfect player for him. But I think if I said to you KD and I said word association, you'd think Hooper wants to play with friends, wants to just ball, doesn't want to really lead. and fair or not, I think that's how people view him because if you could put him on the Celtics tomorrow, you could put him on the Knicks tomorrow, I don't get it.

Rick Buechard talked about his lack of a dynamic market. It's not so much the teams don't want KD and couldn't use KD as much as what are we going to have to give up for him and are we going to have to extend him? The reason that you're not seeing a more robust market for him is because teams are looking at it and saying, I don't know that within a year for what we might have to give up, that KD really moves the needle at this point.

But I would add this. If you're hyper-athletic, like Cam Newton, you tend to age very quickly. but if it's about shooting and sort of basketball IQ shooting and ball handling and length those age very well that's that's why I mean if you look at LeBron James

he is athletic but he's a great ball handler one of the smartest players ever you know LeBron doesn't defend like he used to but Kevin Durant's game I think ages really really well he's not toxic people like him he's smart he understands the game he can shoot I don't know I think Steph Curry is one of those guys.

He can play for a long time. I mean, Clay Thompson's still playing. He's a catch-and-shoot guy. Whereas a Westbrook is bouncing team-to-team now because he was so hyper-athletic. When you lose that, it's like, it's not the same player. But the messaging matters. And I'll give you two examples. SGA.

He's kind of boring. The messaging is winning. Yokic screaming at his teammates. The message winning. And we communicate with more. more than just words. Tone, who are your friends, who are your allies? I was told this years ago by,

it was somebody in LeBron's camp, is a certain player's name came up that wanted to play with LeBron. And I didn't love this player, but this player was really, really talented. And he said, no, LeBron doesn't want that guy, I, LeBron, now, now, LeBron was okay with Westbrook briefly, but it was a player who was in their prime.

And I remember somebody in LeBron's camp saying, LeBron didn't want that guy near his brand. And he's still going to, you know, he's still partying. Like, LeBron, it doesn't have any interest. They are the opposite personality, the opposite guy. And that stuck with me. So, also. Oh my God, look at that. Oh, all right.

Dodgers surpassed 2 million in fan attendants last night, 14th sellout. That's the Otani factor, by the way. It's selling out on Wednesdays and Thursdays. I remember when A-Rod went to the Yankees, and remember he went to the Yankees, and they already had Jeter. It's like he was a shortstop. People were saying A-Rod revolutionized the game. They put him at third.

It's like, he was good for baseball. He was good for business. A-Rod got people to the ball. on a Tuesday night and a Wednesday night and a Thursday night. That's the Otani factor. It's their 14th sellout. Now, some of this is the podraises their biggest rival. And we were talking about AJ Prasinski came on earlier,

and the Dodgers won with a walkoff last night. This rivalry is it is as even and as nasty as a rivalry in baseball can be. And AJ Presensky an hour ago talked about it. Every team walks into a series with the Dodgers, and there are teams out there that go. can't beat them. Why are we even wasting our time? The Padres, they don't play like that. Mike Schill, Mandy Machado, Fernando Tatis, all of these guys on the Padres. They don't play like that. We ain't afraid of the Dodgers, so we're going to show you.

The Padres are going to show the Dodgers. We're not a little brother anymore. We're not afraid of you. We're going to stand up for our guys. And that's how you have to do it in today's game. You know, it is interesting with Otani because he played down with the Angels. But one of the reasons it made sense to get A-Rod with the Yankees. because in 162 games, A-Rod and Jeter together made the Yankee games feel like an event. And I mean, listen, Freeman's great, Betts is great, but it's Otani that makes every Dodger game feel like an event. Don't confuse. Betz is an unbelievable player. He doesn't make a Tuesday game.

He's just great. Otani, this is the Caitlin Clark effect. She's not the best player in the league. Caitlin Clark, oh, you get tickets to a Caitlin Clark game in Indiana? that is a big event. Right now, I'm serious, the game with Caitlin Clark in it tonight, playing one of the more physical teams in the WNBA off that skirmish with Connecticut, honestly to me feels bigger, or at least even with the NBA finals game in Indiana tonight.

Caitlin Clark makes stuff feel like an event. I mean, the Masters is already big, but when Rory McElroy is going for his big win, the numbers explode. Like, okay, we're watching history here. So that is what, and again, there are a lot of good teams. Like the Detroit Lions are a really good team. But part of what makes the Buffalo Bills games feel bigger is Josh Allen. Josh Allen's like, he'll do stuff that you may never see in a football field again.

That's what Caitlin Clark's doing. That's what Otani is doing. And now you add the scrum and the physicality and the flagrant. and the technicals, as everybody's ramping up their defense, Rachel Nichols talked about that with Caitlin Clark. We've seen Steph Curry that you mentioned beat up like this for years. I mean, that is basically the game plan against Steph Curry is just try to out physical him and beat him up a little bit because, of course, you can't match the skill level.

So I think the W is sort of taken a page from that. But so far, you know, she's been able to handle everything that's been thrown at her. I don't really worry about her toughness. She might be her own enforcer, so we'll just have to see. There's also another story with the Indiana fever. Sophie Cunningham, obviously very appealing, tall, blonde, beautiful, and an enforcer. And her jerseys just sold out yesterday. Fanatic said the Sophie Cunningham jerseys, they brought her over like the Bulls did with Charles Oakley to protect Michael Jordan.

They brought her over as an enforcer. And in this game, she enforced. And what I love about Sophie Cunningham, she is leaning in to all of it. The enforcer part, her appearance part, let's just be honest. That's, that helps. That helps. Sophie Cunningham is now a part of this thing. She's part of this.

She is part of this sort of event feel. not just the enforcer how she dresses she makes sure the cameras are out you ever notice with Sophie gunning at the cameras always it's just perfect she comes into the arena I mean come on

everybody knows what's going on here we're all grownups right her social media people are like yep Sophie'll be walking by in 45 minutes make that 20 make that 9 here she comes boom picture hits the internet we all know we all know what's going on we're adults here

But it's a thing. And she is leaning into it. All right, Jay Mack. My staff here is like, where is he going? We're adults here, people. Coward, unlike Shedore Sanders, you need to pump the brakes, buddy. Slow it down, all right? On Sophie Cunningham.

Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast?

Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman helped make you funnier.

This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and headwriters street or Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

This morning, the internet lost its mind. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. And every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moment. in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear.

Listen to SportsSlice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Winning on Clay is an art. The rallies are relentless. And at the French Open, only the toughest survive. I'd know. I competed there for decades. Join me, Renee Stubbs, on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast

for no-nonsense breakdowns of the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the moments that define Roland Garris. She's an outsider to win the French fame. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lennar Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now and I actually can win on any surface. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.